Here it is...my pastrami-style seitan roast transformed into the rockin' reuben sandwich. I didn't have sauerkraut, so I made the sandwich slaw (minus the garlic) and topped the sandwich with that instead. I also made the very secret sauce to which I added pickle relish and horseradish. I also used the optional cheese (Daiya Havarti) on the sandwich, but probably wouldn't again because it was totally unnecessary. The sandwich was rich and flavorful enough without it. I served it with a dill pickle and a Saint Arnold Santo (or 2) on the side.

I only made one sandwich tonight and left the rest of the seitan in the marinade. Hopefully by tomorrow it will have taken on a more "pastrami-like" color. I'm curious to see if the seitan will stand up to that long of a marinating time or if it will start to fall apart.

Elizabeth - your seitan looks pretty much perfect (though I don't remember air holes in mine, and I make it often)I find this pretty much the most fool-proof seitan, ever - but yes, the texture should be consistent throughout, not darker or lighter in the middle vs the outer. I find this one very firm and haven't had it fall apart, no matter what I've done to it.

I made the smoky seitan roast & Rough Rider BBQ sauce tonight with some non-Vegan Diner sides. Like a total dope, I accidentally omitted the chickpea flour from the roast, so the texture was a little off. I ended up steaming it a bit longer to compensate, but it was still a little too squishy for my taste. Oh well! It was definitely still edible though... and not even really that bad! The flavors in the roast go well with the BBQ sauce, which is a good sauce if you like yours tangy and spicy. My boyfriend said he thought the roast would also go well with mushroom gravy, but he says that about pretty much everything so take that as you will. :)

Last night I made the Veggies and Dumplings. It is wonderful. It was cold and rainy here yesterday and the meal was warm and comforting. It called for broccoli but I roasted all that I had the night before. So instead I threw in some black eyed-peas since I had some in the freezer I needed to use. I also threw in some frozen corn with the peas as I just think peas and corn should always be together. I can't wait for lunch to have another nice big bowl.

Next up, the chocolate brownies. Though I have made these before, they are a house favorite.

I've been super busy with VeganMoFo, but I really love Vegan Diner and wanted to try to make time for a couple of dishes from it this week. I made the blue plate special tonight (I had to Google what a blue plate special is- part of the reason I love this book is that I've learned about a bunch of unfamiliar things!).

This incorporated three separate recipes I hadn't tried before- the cornbread waffles (savoury variation), smoky potato scramble and creamy sage and pepper gravy. I'd never made or eaten a combination of things like this together before, but I loved it. This gravy is the standout for me. I don't usually even like gravy that much, but I adored this and ate way too much straight from the saucepan as I was cooking. It was perfect with the scramble and waffles (and scramble over waffles is genius in itself, I'll definitely be eating my scrambles this way again in future!). This was a really different and super fun dinner for us, and definite regular rotation material.

I made the smoky potato scramble today, and added a couple of chopped up herbed breakfast sausage patties. This is the best tofu scramble I've ever made. And the sausages were damn good too. Added ketchup after the pic was taken, super yum!

I don't think you can really go wrong with cinnamon rolls, and these were certainly no exception. The orange isn't super prominent, so I think I would add some orange zest to the glaze next time. But these have definitely been popular. Boyfriend and my brother (who is in town visiting us for the weekend) have eaten three each already. I guess I need to come up with a plan for tomorrow's breakfast, because I doubt there'll be any of these left by then!

Elizabeth - your seitan came out beautifully and your sandwich picture is gorgeous.

It took all of my will power not to make any desserts. Julie's pies are TDF. I wanted to make something I hadn't made from the book before. I tackled brunch. I made the Breakfast Benedicts Florntine, complete with the homemade breakfast sausages (pg. 50), her English Muffin (pg.60) recipe and the Dill Sauce (pg 161). It was an all morning gig as I made all of the components in one day. But it was pretty and very tasty although I like the English muffin recipe from Vegan Brunch better. I served it with fresh strawberries and fresh carrot juice.

I made the chocolate strawberry pie last night. So simple, but seriously delicious!

We (being Boyfriend, my brother and myself) all loved it. My omni brother was particularly impressed. I think this really appealed to him because it didn't have any obviously vegan alternatives to non-vegan ingredients (no tofu or anything weird here!). Everyone can appreciate a delicious, fresh fruit-covered pie. I think this will become a go-to recipe for family events, or just cooking for Boyfriend's notoriously difficult, grossed-out-by-vegan-food mother.

Okay, I don't have any pics- sorry. But, I've made the Great Smoky Mountain Cheeze, the Very Vanilla Ice Cream, and the Cheezy Mac. The GSM Cheeze was good. It made fairly decent grilled cheese sammies so that was nice. I wasn't impressed with the ice cream. I like the recipe in V'Con much better. The Cheezy Mac, however was awesome! My toddler was thrilled!

I've hit the ground running with the cookbook! I've already made four items from it, and it's only Monday. (Although, technically, I started on Saturday night and not Sunday.) Plus three firsts for me: first time using vwg, first time using agar agar, and first time using flax as an egg sub.

So far I've made the Herbed Breakfast Sausage Patties, the My Big Fat Greek Scramble, the Blueberry Nutmeg Muffins, and the Great Smokey Mountain Cheeze is chilling in the fridge right now.

I brought a bunch of the muffins to work yesterday and they were all gone at the end of the day. I got a lot of compliments on them, even from the omni "foodie" in the group!

The sausages are really amazing! They really taste like breakfast sausages and the texture came out great. They kind of ended up as funny shapes, but that didn't affect the flavor. The scramble has similar ingredients to scrambles I've done before without a recipe, but the herbs/spices in this just added an extra oomph. The recipe doesn't call for black salt, but I might try subbing that for the sea salt in this, just to make it a bit eggier.

I'm curious about the cheeze. Tasting it off of the spatula, it was really good, but I'm curious how it will set. I plan on making the Old Fashioned Tomato Soup and a grilled cheeze tonight for dinner.

Muffins:

Scramble and Sausages:

Sausage, inside:

_________________Ain't no guarantees in life, and nothing that comes out of my vagina can change that. - Erika Soyf*cker

Reading this thread brings back so many great testing memories. It really is an awesome book. Those English muffins are perfect, the seitans are wonderful, and I really love both barbecue sauces. And that strawberry chocolate pie! So easy and so delicious.

You acquire the cookbook for that week (list is at the top) which you can buy, already own, take out from the library, borrow from a friend or use Google Books, etc. Then you just make different food from the recipes in that book and post about it in the thread for that book. It's pretty much just a fun way to try to get people to use their cookbooks that we sometimes neglect and let people know if you like the recipes and/or book.

_________________"...anarchists only want to burn cars and punch cops."- nickvicious"We'll be eating our own words 30 years from now when we're demanding our legislators outlaw aerosol-based cyber dildo-wielding death holograms."- Brian

I have Vegan Diner but it looks like now we're on to a new book I don't have. If I buy another vegan cookbook my husband may divorce me, so I'm gonna have to scrounge this one up without shelling out any dough.

You can totally mix it up, emanningbx. It's not that strict. I'm only doing about half the weeks (due to travel) and some weeks I'm doing a book from a different week, and for one of the challenges, I even subbed a different book by the same authors (because I had it, and not the suggested book).

I'm only starting on the Vegan Diner challenge now even though a lot of people have moved on to this week's cookbook.

And, I came back to report that I got impatient and decided to try the Great Smokey Mountain Cheeze on crackers as a pre-grilled-cheeze appetizer. Wow, this stuff is good!

_________________Ain't no guarantees in life, and nothing that comes out of my vagina can change that. - Erika Soyf*cker

Awesome, I am loving this kind of challenge. I am a Vegan Mofo lurker...too intimidated to participate in light of the amazing things I see, plus I don't have a blog anyway...but I am always wanting to try new things so this is PERFECT.

I don't have the Yellow Rose book, and in fact am shocked, SHOCKED!, that I've never heard of it. You learn summin' new every day! Since the available new copies are Amazon are selling for $500 (!!-that must be some awesome cookbook!), I'll stick to Vegan Diner for now. Gonna try the Great Smokey Mountain Cheeze on your recommendation, and also because I have more crackers in my house than I can shake a stick at.